Anywhere But Here Pt 04

The trio had been on the road for 3 days. While it had been relatively uneventful they had been coming across fellow travellers. So while Havi had been willing to show Olya how to better wield a knife in a fight, it hadn't been worth risking a proper magic lesson for her. Havi and Tamlen had been in agreement over this. It contradicted the strange tension Olya sensed between the two that wasn't talked about. Olya was certain it was just going to be a boring week until they reached Carborough, when Havi led them off into the trees.

"Why are we leaving the road?" Tamlen asked.

"Staying on the road will add days to our journey, besides our food stores are running low. Taking a shortcut through the forest has two extra benefits, I can go and hunt some fresh meat for dinner and if we get far enough from the road you and Olya can finally have a lesson."

"That's good on both counts." Said Tamlen.

"Yeah...and if I'm hunting I'll be far away from Olya's blast zone!" He said in a sardonic tone.

"Hey!" She protested.

"Sorry, what?" Asked Tamlen.

"Oh right...you don't know what happened the first time she used her power. She barbequed a man." Havi explained maintaining his tone.

A flash of horror crept onto Tamlen's face "... barbequed!?"

Olya tried to disagree "That's not...wholly inaccurate. But for the record he had it coming."

Tamlen became cautious "I think we'll start slow, small. The primary goal shouldn't be to...uh...barbeque anything." He seemed to grow visibly tense in his saddle.

Havi chimed in "Ah that seems like a good camping spot, let's park up."

The trio dismounted and set up camp. Havi wandered into the forest to find some dinner, leaving Olya and Tamlen behind. Tamlen took a deep calming breath.

"Okay let's get a little distance from the camp and begin" Olya nodded in agreement.

They walked a bit further into the forest and found a small clearing.

Tamlen began "First thing I would like to know is what you were feeling the first time you cast. Describe it to me."

Olya gave it some thought. "I was nervous, vulnerable but mostly angry, ragingly so."

Tamlen nodded "That's common with fire and lightning based instinctual magic."

"Instinctual magic?" She inquired.

"Innate magic cast instinctively, hence the name. Control of the elements you were born with the talent to cast. As opposed to ritual magic which requires time and preparation, pretty useless when you are in the midst of combat but it makes up the most intricate and interesting spells in the world." he explained.

"What do you use?" She asked.

I'm mainly a ritual caster, but it's hard to do any rituals on the road without the proper components. Instinctually, water and earth." he summoned a globe of water from a nearby puddle and made it twist and fly through the air before letting it drop. He next caused the branch on a nearby tree to grow a piece of fruit which he picked and handed to her.

"That's amazing!" She took the fruit in wonder and had a bite savouring the sweetness.

"Not really, what I can do is pretty minor. Unlike what you're potentially capable of. We just need to get you to the point you have finesse and control...now can you explain what happened back in Carnach's lab? When you tried to cast and failed."

Olya pulled a pained expression " I felt doubtful, insecure, a little bit angry but mostly scared. When I tried to summon it, it was beyond my reach." She shuffled a bit and stared at her feet.

Tamlen gave her a sympathetic smile. "Fear is understandable, fear is natural, but it's a mind killer. It kills your focus and your capacity to control. In life, and in magic use, it's devastating. Grow scared while casting, you lose control. Always remember you control the magic, it doesn't control you...Now I need you to let yourself get a bit angry and try to cast...but please wait until I've found some cover...no offense." He spotted a large boulder and sheepishly hid behind it.

Olya tried to clear her mind and focus on what would make her angry. She started trying to remember the drunk as he had been the catalyst last time, but it wasn't working. She focussed on Carnach but it returned her to that helpless feeling. She let her mind wander, flipping through various things that caused irritation or frustration; nothing was doing it until her thoughts wandered to Havi. How since the night on top of the mountain he'd been holding her at arms length, refusing to share a room, denying any affection towards her in front of Carnach and was clearly hiding something that had happened between him and Tamlen. The storm within reached her grasp and she felt the energy surge through her she tried to summon the bolt from the sky. Instead after a careless wave of her arm the bolt shot through her hand it danced through the trees. It hit one tree after another scorching and severing them, it flew back past her and finished just shy of the rock Tamlen was covered behind.

She began to panic, that was not what she had wanted to do. She had felt no control over that bolt whatsoever. Small bolts of lightning started to lash out from her in all directions and a strong cutting wind surrounded her in circles howling. Her panic became full blown and she curled up paralysed, unable to think.

Tamlen's voice cut through the wind and the crackling lightning. "Take a deep breath! It does not control you!"

She followed his words and breathed deep, in and out, focussing on the simple act. The wind dropped and the lightning stopped. Keeping her breath steady she pointed her fingers and shot a single bolt at a distant rock. As she wanted, it didn't bounce or fork but it did shatter the rock to bits as opposed to just hitting it. She still considered that progress. She released her hold of the energy, keeping focussed on her breathing until it fully dissipated.

Tamlen poked his head out from behind the rock and took in the devastation she had caused from the brief use of her ability. Seven trees had collapsed, their remains lightly smouldering. There were black scorch lines swerving across the forest floor and the smashed remains of a small boulder.

She looked at him and asked nervously. "How did I do?"

Tamlen kept his face as neutral as possible " It could have gone worse...but you did get it back under control...baby steps." he gave her an encouraging smile to hide his alarm at the display he'd just witnessed.

They headed back to camp and got a fire going. Before long Havi had returned with a couple of hare for dinner. He walked in from the direction of the magic lesson and had seen the result.

"Both alive and no limbs missing, great. Time for dinner."

He dropped the hare down and prepped them. They had a hearty meal and salted the rest for later. Shortly after dinner they retreated to their respective tents and went to sleep.

The next morning they had their breakfast, packed up camp and set off through the trees. After spending most of the morning and some of the afternoon on horseback they spotted a large village.

"Perhaps we should check it out?" Tamlen suggested. "They might be able to trade us some of their spare food?"

Havi agreed and they headed over. As they approached, Havi heard shouting, the sound of an argument. When they entered the village they saw people gathered in the centre around a single man, mousey, average, around thirty. Heated voices all directed at him.

"Something has to be done, Cyril! It's going to keep picking us off otherwise!" Shouted someone in the crowd.

"What do you want me to do?! Short of us all staying up all night, backs together, I don't see how we can stop it."

Another person in the crowd blurted out. "Even if we did that, all took it on at once it'd still take out many of us. It's a vicious bastard."

The discourse was halted when the crowd spotted the trio.

"Strangers, it'd be best to warn you there's a beastie about, it ain't safe here. You'd best keep moving out of this area before night falls. Lest you become its next victims." Cyril warned.

Havi's interest was piqued. "What kind of beastie?"

"Don't know exactly, it's taller than you, skinny, massive claws, got a deer's antlers and a skull for a face. It's been dragging folk off in the dark. We hear their screams."

"Does it have bark covering its limbs?" Havi asked.

Cyril answered "Why...yes. Have you seen it before?"

Havi nodded. "Leshen, nasty. Tough, but not impossible to kill."

Cyril cocked his head. "You a hunter?"

Havi nodded. Murmurs erupted from the crowd and hope crept onto Cyril's face.

"Can we hire you? We don't have much but we can do a whip round for your gold."

"Throw in some food as well, you've got a deal" Havi replied.

Murmurs of approval ran through the crowd.

"Deal" said Cyril. "If you like, you and your companions can stay in that house over there. It's now...unoccupied thanks to the Leshen." Cyril's face dropped at those last words.

Havi nodded. "I'll start my hunt soon".

He led Skyg over to the directed house, Tamlen followed on his mare. They hitched up the horses and entered their temporary residence. It had a main area and led off to two smaller rooms. It wasn't luxurious but it was cosy and shielded from the elements. There was also a tin bath which Olya eyed, thoroughly tempted by the idea. Yet there was no firewood, she'd have to find some before dark.

She voiced her concern. Tamlen had a suggestion.

"You could ask the neighbour, they might have some spare."

She nodded and walked out the door. As she walked around the house to reach the neighbours she heard Havi and Tamlen talking. Which wouldn't have been unusual by itself but the opening words from Havi caused her ears to prick up and to stop walking.

"Olya hasn't asked you anything about what happened in the ruins, has she?"

"No...but I don't think she's oblivious, she suspects something." Tamlen replied.

"As long as it's just a suspicion that's tolerable. If she knew I don't think she'd handle it well."

"What makes you so sure of that? She might understand that it was just for the ritual." Tamlen asked.

"Before you got involved...things were already getting complicated. If she knows..." Havi hesitated.

"I don't want to get on your bad side by defying your wishes, but you need to talk to her about it. If she asks me directly about us I won't lie to her." Tamlen decreed.

Havi huffed and walked away, ending the conversation. Olya stood there for a moment trying to understand what she just heard. They had been hiding something that happened in the ruins for a ritual? What could they have done together that Havi thought she would be upset by? She trudged her way to the neighbours' house and knocked on the door. She tried to bury the despondency she was feeling as she waited for them to come to the door. A friendly middle aged woman answered the door.

"Oh, hello can I help you with something?" She asked.

Olya spoke "Hello yes, please could I have a few logs of firewood, if you don't mind? There are none left in the house."

"Oh sure, my dear...Oh, you're looking so pale you must be cold. Come on in, warm yourself by the fire, I've got some hot cider we can share."

Olya let herself be ushered inside to a warm seat by the fire and a cup of hot cider was placed in her hands.

"That'll see you better soon." the woman said. "I'm curious, are you married to one of those gorgeous men?" She asked, curiosity getting the better of her manners.

"No, it's not like that." Olya muttered. "I'm not married."

The woman sensed she might have just blundered, "Oh sorry. Honestly I wouldn't worry about that, the worst mistake I ever made." she smiled warmly.

"Oh, how so?' asked Olya, keen to keep the topic away from herself.

She began. "I was young and hopelessly smitten, so I kept ignoring the warning signs. Him constantly disappearing for hours on end, feeble excuses and explanations for where he'd been. Then it turned out he was being unfaithful."

"He was cheating on you with another woman?" Olya asked.

She harrumphed. "I wish. Every time he and his mate Keith hung out he'd come back and have trouble sitting down or riding his horse without wincing. He'd say it was 'just a bad back' and that I 'shouldn't worry'. I eventually realised what the source of his 'bad back' was when I caught him being bent over by Keith. Kicked him out the next day."

"Sorry? Being bent over?" Queried Olya.

She reeled through euphemisms as each one received a blank look from Olya "Taking it up the jacksie, hiding the sausage, uphill gardening, one-eye meets brown-eye, backdoors smashed in, taking the dirt trail, getting a plum in the pudding hole." She huffed with a smile "a cock up the arse. Gods, you're an innocent one ain't ya?" She gave Olya a giggle.

Olya was hit by the realisation like a mountain of bricks of exactly what Tamlen and Havi had been doing in the ruins, when she remembered Tamlen wincing as he mounted his horse. She finished her cider.

"Thank you so much for the drink and your hospitality. May I have some of the wood please?" Olya asked. Trying to keep her face and tone neutral.

"Someone raised you with good manners. Sure you can, my darling. Take what you can carry." She replied.

Olya grabbed a large armful of wood and carried it back to the house. When she got back neither Havi nor Tamlen were there. Havi had most likely started his hunt, who knew where Tamlen was. She started a fire and committed to the idea of a bath. The simple act of preparing it, keeping her mind from going over and over what she'd just learned. She placed the bath in one of the smaller rooms that had a bed. She grabbed a bucket and made visits to and from the well to fill the bath. The final bucketful she hung by the fire to heat, waiting for it to reach the boil. As she waited her mind went to reeling. Was Tamlen Havi's lover? 'Just for the ritual'? Maybe Havi actually preferred men? The thoughts kept rolling over and over. The bucket began boiling, she picked it up and poured it into the bath in the small bedroom.

She closed the door and stripped down. She even released her hair from its covering determined to give it a proper wash. She lowered herself in and sighed as she relaxed in the warm water, submerged. She scrubbed herself clean then just lay back. She surrendered to her thoughts. Havi and Tamlen together, their lips pressed together, running their hands over each other's bodies. She grew confusingly aroused at the thought of Havi forcing Tamlen onto his knees and thrusting himself inside. Havi's hips slapping against Tamlen's ass. She tried to imagine what face Tamlen would make as Havi buried himself deep. Would Havi have been sweet, tender? Or did he breed Tamlen as roughly as he had the night he took her? She lay there relishing in this strange day dream.

Havi was making his way through the forest following a trail he believed belonged to the Leshen. The scent of fresh blood and rotting bark pervading from it. He was confident he was right. As he continued along his mind wandered back to Tamlen's words 'You need to talk to her'. The elf was right, but it was a conversation he had been stalling on having properly. Its conclusion was going to make things awkward when Olya learned what had happened in the ruins and that she and him must not become something more than protector and charge. The heartbreak would become inevitable on both sides. The thought pained him as he remembered her touch, the feeling of being buried between her legs and the sound of her moans. He remembered each night. But it shouldn't be, and he was being cowardly, clinging to fantasy instead of embracing reality. As the sun was starting to set he found a freshly dug warren, large enough for him to walk through and clearly dug out by the Leshen. He drew a dagger, he wouldn't be able to swing his sword in here and followed the scent trail inside.

Olya was so preoccupied with her day dreaming that she didn't hear the front door and the footsteps leading to the door to the room she was in. Tamlen walked in his head buried in a book flicking through its pages.

"Olya, I've got a book that I think you'll find helpful, it's..." He looked up and realised she was completely naked and he'd walked in on her bathing. An embarrassed flush sprinted across his cheeks and he flusteredly panicked.

Olya saw his panic and found herself amused instead of offended. Her mood in light of her imaginings inspired her to toy with Tamlen even if he might be Havi's lover. She stood up and walked towards him, her body dripping and her hair hanging in wet tendrils.

"Oh, what is it called?" She asked ever so sweetly as she swept her hair back fully exposing her breasts to him.

He struggled to answer as the blood started to leave his brain. "...The intricacies of magic. It covers basic magical theory...I'm sorry I should..." The quickly weakening rational part of his brain told him he should leave, but his eyes were glued to her nude form standing tantalisingly in front of him in full view.

Olya continued talking like butter wouldn't melt.

"Thank you, that will be an interesting read, but what do you have to be sorry about? My, my you're looking awfully flushed Tamlen."

She placed her hand on his forehead and ran it down to his cheek.

"Are you coming down with something, here take a seat."

She gently pushed him into a seating position on the bed, he offered no resistance. The change of angle caused his eyes to become transfixed by the small patch of copper hair between her legs.

A mischievous grin crept onto her face.

"What are you looking at Tamlen? What has your undivided attention?"

She knew exactly what part of her he was looking at.

"Do you want a closer look?"

She shoved him back onto the bed. She climbed on top of him and sat on the top of his chest near his face and spread her legs wide for his viewing pleasure.

The diminished rational part of Tamlen's mind weakly screamed at him.

'You know what's about to happen and it's a terrible idea! Things between her and Havi are weird enough as it is, and if Havi finds out about this...'

Tamlen's lust gagged his rational self and slammed it behind a locked door.

'She smells so sweet, when have you ever seen a pair of tits so round and squeezable? She's right there, legs open, offering herself. Taste her!'

Tamlen grabbed her hips and buried his face between her legs and began to voraciously suck. He ran his tongue up and down her folds, luxuriating in the taste and the soft panting moans she made for him. He sighed with joy as he moved his hands to grasp her ass. Kneading his fingers around her buttocks, savouring the feel of her soft skin before pulling her forward so she sat directly on his face. She let out a small yelp of surprise, before he clamped his lips around her nub and enthusiastically sucked. She trembled and groaned when he began flicking his tongue over it as well. She couldn't help gently grinding into his face as she slowly ascended to her peak. Tamlen trailed one of his hands up her body to her breast, clasping it in his palm and loving how her nipple hardened under his fingers. She whined as she came, the surge of pleasure running through her, clamping her thighs around his head and grasping tufts of his hair. She tensed then relaxed, moving back onto his chest as she met his eyes, both of them panting.

After catching her breath she moved further down his body to his hips. She grasped his bulge through his trousers before unfastening and pulling them down to his ankles. She gazed at his manhood, she wrapped her hand around it giving it a few light strokes, Tamlen quietly gasping in response. She positioned her sex against the tip, tenderly rubbing it up and down before sinking down on top of it.

Both of them groaned when their hips met and Tamlen's full length was inside her. Olya ran her hands up Tamlen's torso lifting his shirt so she could see his bare skin. She rocked her hips against him trying to rub him against that sweet spot inside that Havi had made her aware of. Tamlen grabbed her hips to help her movements, melting at the feeling of being surrounded by her hot, wet sex. He raised up his knees to make it easier to bounce his hips into her. Bouncing hard enough that she put her hands against his shoulders to keep herself upright. She found this difficult to do as he kept thrusting into her. Her arms steadily lowered her until her breasts pressed against his chest. She ran her lips along his jaw and met his own. She nibbled on his lower lip before he drew her into a kiss, gently caressing their tongues as he felt her moaning in his mouth. With his thrusts she was still grinding her hips into his. He removed one of the hands from her hips and slid his fingers between them and placed them around her nub. She broke off their kiss and mewled, dropping her head to his shoulder, her face angled so every moan reached his ear. He circled his fingers around her nub, and was rewarded by her smacking her hips into his, determined to wring as much pleasure from him as possible. The sound of wet slapping flesh filled the room along with their moans. Olya started to shake and whimper then let out a muted scream as she reached her apex. She clamped and squeezed around Tamlen, he drove himself deep and released a warm gush inside her as he finished. She collapsed onto him and his muscles slackened into the bed feeling spent.